He was drafted in the first round by the Jets in 1995, was then traded to Philadelphia, where he excelled before going to the Jaguars for a big free agent contract. After not performing to expectations, he re-signed with the Eagles.

Douglas is now basking in his first Super Bowl, but he, too, is ducking darts targeted at him after a local columnist from Jacksonville torched him in a story Douglas yesterday swore was slander.

The writer quoted Douglas in Jan. 21 editions of the Florida Times-Union as blaming Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio and ripping the city, quotes Douglas insisted never came out of his mouth.

“The story was written by a guy that nobody really cares about,” Douglas said yesterday. “You just never know what people’s agenda is or what they’re trying to do. I guess being in Philadelphia and New York I was a little spoiled, because everything you say in those places was quoted the way you said it. I guess I kind of took that for granted.

“I told (the writer) at the time we talked that I wasn’t going to make a comment on Jacksonville,” Douglas went on. “It was just something that didn’t fit and that was the end of it.”

Douglas said, when he got a call about the story, he immediately called the Jags, left a message for Del Rio and spoke with assistant coach Ray Hamilton, asking him to pass the word that those weren’t his words.

“People that know me know that’s not my character,” he said.

Douglas, now a reserve with the Eagles, was the AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year with 10 sacks with the Jets. Yesterday, he sounded like a more mature man than the one who was traded to the Eagles by Bill Parcells in 1997.

“As I look back on those years in New York I think I was a little bit selfish,” Douglas said. “They had drafted (LB) James Farrior and things changed; they wanted to go to a 3-4. I didn’t understand why they were changing, because I was doing so well (in the 4-3).

“As I got older, I realized that sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the good of the team,” Douglas continued. “The last time I saw Coach Parcells I told him, ‘You know, I didn’t get it back then, but now I get it.’ “